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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Indoor cat vanished

134 replies

Tillmers · 07/04/2024 20:53

Our very shy indoor rescue cat has simply vanished. We've been through every inch on the house with a fine tooth comb and can find no sign of her what so ever. She's two years old and has never been outside and I'm beside myself with worry about her.

I saw her in our living room at approx 2:00am today (couldnt sleep) all the windows and doors were closed however she hasn't been seen since. We have 4 and 6 year old DC who did wake up before us so I can only assume one of them has opened the door for some reason and she's slipped out, there's literally no other explanation.

I have left her litter tray and some food by the back door and we have been out searching but no joy 😢 I don't know what I'm asking really, any ideas about where she could be or what we should do next wellcome, thank you

OP posts:
Mitsky · 07/04/2024 22:36

One of our cats was found in a wardrobe (not ours, a neighbours) and another very nearly got tumble dried by accident by disguising herself as clothes.

eurochick · 07/04/2024 22:37

Ours went missing after a house viewing once. We had left notes everywhere and strict instructions with the estate agent not to leave doors and windows open but she was nowhere to found afterwards so we went out searching, put food and litter outside, posted in the local Facebook group, etc.

We had pretty much given up hope when we found her in the eaves storage of the loft conversion (that we had already checked). A house viewer must have opened it and she sneaked in there and then someone closed it later. We were very relieved!

soddingkitten · 07/04/2024 22:42

We lost a childhood kitten who was shut in the kitchen overnight. My Dad found him curled around the warm motor (which “purred” constantly) inside the grille on the back of the fridge.

Sodding kept vanishing and causing worry. We’ve worked out he likes to sleep inside a storage box of school uniform at the back of DS2’s wardrobe if there’s too much noise and bustle in the house.

Nevermindtheteacaps · 07/04/2024 23:04

Behind a kitchen cabinet kick board?

Nextdoor55 · 07/04/2024 23:13

if she is outside, dangle some fabric, like clothes outside, she will pick up the scent and hopefully come home

NameChangedAgainn · 07/04/2024 23:35

Go through each room one by one, methodically searching every nook and cranny, even if you think you've already searched everywhere. I have a house cat that disappears occasionally and we've found her trapped in a few places over the years, but more often than not she has just been sleeping. I go in and start on the left of the door and work my way around the room.

Places mine has hidden that I didn't see on a normal search:

  • inside a bag hanging on the back of a door (sleeping)
  • in a clothes drawer (trapped)
  • in empty space we didn't know existed behind that same clothes drawer (trapped)
  • inside a blanket chest (no idea how she opened it, trapped)
  • inside a welly boot (as a kitten admittedly, sleeping)
  • inside the extractor fan over the hob (sleeping)
  • inside the tumble dryer (sleeping)
  • in the bin (trapped, we think, or just awake and hanging out)
  • in the laundry hamper (trapped)
Escaperoom · 07/04/2024 23:37

We have a house cat. Quite often I have been unable to find him, checked everywhere, panicked he must have got out somehow and then he just turns up somewhere I had already looked. I don't know how he does it. I think cats have some magical ability to just appear and disappear like the marmalade cat in Alice in Wonderland!

Dominicains · 07/04/2024 23:38

Our indoor only rescue lady has variously hidden inside the mechanism of my dad’s reclining armchair, inside the eaves after squeezing through a tiny hole in the back of a vanity unit where the pipes run out and into the eaves, under a billy bookcase by pushing the baseboard, between the dangling edge of a duvet and the wall of a bed that was pushed right against said wall, behind a freestanding dishwasher, under kitchen cabinets by pulling at the corner of a kickboard… we knew there was no way she was outside in any of these situations. The two times she did get out, we put her litter tray in the doorway of the living room and slept on the sofas, she came back when it was the middle of the night and maybe she was less scared as we had stopped roaming around the streets and gardens, shouting for her. I hope you either find her, she pops up from her hiding place or she wanders in during the night.

MyAncestorsSentALizard · 07/04/2024 23:39

I know this feeling.

Have you checked the drier? Behind the tv (my sister’s cat hides in the media wall) wash basket (she also goes in there)

Femme2804 · 07/04/2024 23:40

My indoor cat was vanished before and turned out she is stuck and cant get out from behind the fitted wardrobe. We have to take all off the wardrobe. I dont even understand how she can go there in the first place.

please make sure you check everything because she might be stuck somewhere.

MyAncestorsSentALizard · 07/04/2024 23:42

@Escaperoom my sister’s cat did that. Thought she’d got out, searched high and low for her. Checked every room a million times. She was chilling in a room we’d searched. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Spoonthief · 07/04/2024 23:55

Our cat also likes the laundry basket. Was able to get in but not out

Spoonthief · 07/04/2024 23:57

You say the kids may have let her out.
Have you asked them ?

fieldsofbutterflies · 08/04/2024 07:19

She's highly likely to be in the house.

We've had cats hide behind skirting boards, behind the oven, under the sofa (as in, inside the fabric at the bottom), right on top of kitchen cupboards etc.

She'll appear if you leave food out.

Original poster
Tillmers · 08/04/2024 07:32

Still no sign of her, it's been over 24 hours now and we're all very worried. I'll do another search of the whole house and then start asking neighbours. None of the food we left inside or out has been touched. Thank you for all the ideas, the missing cat stories would probably be quite funny if it wasn't for the circumstances!

OP posts:
Heliss · 08/04/2024 07:46

How worrying. Mine was in the chimney when I couldn't find her.

OutOfTheHouse · 08/04/2024 07:51

Would the children have opened any doors or windows? They seem young to be doing something like that. Also, would they have had the chance? Were they up and about before you?

I think the chances of them opening the door is slim, but you know your children best of course, therefore she is still in the house. Might anything have spooked her? You say she is shy, could she have just gone into hiding somewhere really obscure?
Can you put a little dish of something really smelly like tuna or warmed up chicken in each room?

Autumn1990 · 08/04/2024 07:56

I suspect she’s stuck somewhere in the house. We lost our outdoor indoor cat once for two days. She was had gone under the eaves. Stupid cat didn’t call out to us either or walk round so we could hear her.

Floralnomad · 08/04/2024 09:46

Go into each room , shake the treat packet and listen , make sure it’s silent in the room in case she has got trapped inside some furniture or under the floor

Toddlerteaplease · 08/04/2024 10:54

My indoor cat got out. She spent five hours sitting behind the neighbours bin. She was t keen on the big wide world.

NameChangedAgainn · 08/04/2024 10:55

Tillmers · 08/04/2024 07:32

Still no sign of her, it's been over 24 hours now and we're all very worried. I'll do another search of the whole house and then start asking neighbours. None of the food we left inside or out has been touched. Thank you for all the ideas, the missing cat stories would probably be quite funny if it wasn't for the circumstances!

She may be trapped somewhere in the house that you can't search easily, cats can get into the weirdest of places like under the floors or up chimneys. I would get the house completely silent, go into each room and shake treats/call her, wait a minute, do it again, and repeat that a few times. Our cat won't usually reveal her hiding space until she's been called 4 or 5 times like this.
Also post on any local Facebook groups, if she's outside then someone may see her and not realise she's an indoor cat.

MrsSkylerWhite · 08/04/2024 10:57

Have you checked the underneath of chairs and sofas? Ours once managed to make a hole in the lining and would hide in there, under the seat.

BlunderMifflin · 08/04/2024 11:14

My indoor cat is black as are a lot of my clothes so when he goes 'missing' the first place I now check is my laundry basket. There's no lid so he's not trapped just having a sleep but completely invisible!

I really hope your cat turns up soon, I understand the awful worry Flowers

AnImaginaryCat · 08/04/2024 11:25

Six months is enough time for her to know where to return too.

As for being missing 24 hours try not to panic. If she's never been out before there a lot for her to discover. If she's anything like my cat the missing period are long. First one was three days.

Though don't stop looking inside and outside your house of course!! What I mean is 24 hours is early to lose hope.

Is she speyed?

InTheRainOnATrain · 08/04/2024 11:27

Agree cat is most likely in the house. Open every door, cupboard, drawer in the house. Look for tiny gaps you might not have realised were there- up chimneys, around the extractor fan, inside your large furniture like bed frames and sofas etc. Send everyone else out into the garden whilst you quietly go into every room with a whiffy plate of tuna and the jar of treats to shake then sit quietly in there for a few minutes to see if you hear any noises.

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